Teaching aid

ABSTRACT

A windowed housing internally supports a removable rod that mounts a series of concentrically positioned wheels having indicia thereon which appear through the windows. Detent means between the wheels and the housing permit the selective positioning of the wheels such that particular indicia remain in view through the windows. Brackets are provided in the interior of the housing to slidably mount the rod thereby permitting rapid removal and replacement of the rod. Removal of the rod allows rapid rearrangement of the wheel order on the rod.

United States Patent Collins, Sr.

541 TEACHING AID [72] Inventor: James W. Collins, Sr., 400 N.W. FifthStreet, Mineral Wells, Tex. 76007 22 Filed: April 22, 1970 [2i] Appl.N0.: 30,659

[52] U.S.Cl. [5 1] Int. Cl. [58] Field of Search .....35/35 G, 35/77..G09b 19/00 ...35/35 G, 35 H, 35 J, 71, 77; 40/68 X [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,732,980 10/1929 Mooney ..35/35 J X FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 899,474 8/ l 944 France ..35/35 G [451 July4,1972

Germany ..35/35 G France ..35/35 G Primary ExaminerRobert W. MichellAssistant ExaminerJ. H. Wolff Attarney-Clarence A. OBrien and Harvey B.Jacobson [5 7] ABSTRACT A windowed housing internally supports aremovable rod that mounts a series of concentrically positioned wheelshaving indicia thereon which appear through the windows. Detent meansbetween the wheels and the housing permit the selective positioning ofthe wheels such that particular indicia remain in view through thewindows. Brackets are provided in the interior of the housing toslidably mount the rod thereby permitting rapid removal and replacementof the rod. Removal of the rod allows rapid rearrangement of the wheelorder on the rod.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures TEACHING AID The present invention relatesto teaching aids and more particularly to a teaching aid for the lettersof the alphabet and the sounds for which the various letter combinationsstand.

Conventional techniques for teaching the concept of the alphabet andword grouping usually includes the utilization of blackboards, or cardshaving fixed word groupings thereon. With such apparatus, it is timeconsuming to change the order of letters which is required to teach thelearner new and different sounds in the form of multiple letter words.

By virtue of the present invention, combinations of letters may berapidly changed so that the leamers interest is maintained. Theparticular advantage of the present invention resides in the fact thatthe learner is able to get the general pattern of pronunciation, anover-view, as it were, that is not possible using lists, cards,diagrams, chalkboard illustrations, pencil and paper, or any of thetraditional methods including phonic workbooks.

The present teaching aid is simply and economically constructed. Thedevice is easy to use and can withstand the physical punishment of youngchildren due to its rugged mechanism. The housing of the aid is smoothlycontoured so that it is safe for use by children.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the present teaching aid.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along a plane passingthrough section line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along a plane passingthrough section line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a detail view of a bracket taken along a plane passing throughsection line 4--4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a typical indicia bearing wheel asemployed in the present invention.

Referring to the drawings the present invention is seen to include anelongated shell-like housing having a front arcuate side l2 articulatingto a rectangular base 14 supported on leg members 16. A series of tenhorizontally disposed adjacent slots or windows 18 are formed in thefront side 12, the windows serving as viewing ports for indicia. Lateralslots 20 extend from opposite sides of each window to permit the passageof elements projecting from internal components as hereinafterexplained.

Referring to FIGS. 2-4, bosses 22 extend horizontally inwardly from theinterior of the transverse housing walls. These bosses serve as bracketsfor mounting a horizontally disposed rod 30. As will be more clearlyshown in FIG. 4, the boss bracket may be characterized by a raisedW-shaped configuration having outer arms 24 which embrace thecircumference of an associated rod end. The central arm 26 serves as aguide for insertion within a slot 28 formed in each end of the rod 30.As will be noted, the slotted rod 30 resembles the building rodsutilized in the well-known Tinker Toy. The back of the housing 10 isopen so that the rod slides into engagement with the bracket 22. Thistype of bracket mounting allows the rod to be easily inserted andremoved from the housing.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, the rod 30 serves as an axle mount for aplurality of concentrically spaced indicia bearing wheels 32. As shownin FIG. 5, each wheel includes a cylindrical surface 34 having thepressed frame recesses 36 formed therein. Each frame in the preferredembodiment of the present invention includes an alphabetical letter 38.One end of the cylindrical surface 34 appends to a centrally boredcircular side 40 having a boss 42 extending outwardly therefrom, theboss being slipped over the mounting rod 30. The other end of the wheelis opened and as will be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, reinforcing ribs 44extend outwardly from the inside of the circular wheel side 40. I

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, ten windows 18(FIG. 1) are formed in the housing and are associated with tenadjacently positioned indicia bearing wheels 32. In accordance with theteaching method set forth hereinafter, the wheels, not the indiciathereon are colorcoded and divided into color groups as follows: threeof the wheels are colored red and bear vowels; one wheel is coloredyellow and bears silent consonants; one wheel is colored green and bearsdigraphs and blends; further, three dark blue wheels contain all 21consonant letters and two light blue wheels bear l4 consonants mostoften used as initial or terminal letters in syllables. As will be notedfrom the figures, each wheel ineludes eight frames for carrying up toeight alphabetical characters.

Except for the three red wheels bearing vowels, each wheel has sevenletters plus a blank space. The three red wheels have the vowels A, E,I, O, U, Y as well as the schwa'l a). The schwa is the inverted small eused for designating unaccented vowels.

In order to allow manipulation of the wheels so that the alphabeticalcharacters may be changed with respect to their position in front of awindow 18, projecting elements 46 extend radially outward from one endof the cylindrical surface 34. When the wheels are properly mounted onrod 30, these projecting elements pass through the elongated slots 20which have been formed in the housing so that the housing does notinterfere with rotation of the wheels.

In order to retain the wheels in preselected positions, a pair ofadjacently spaced flexible strips 48 are anchored within the base 14 ofthe housing and extend upward to engage the bottom projections 46 asseen in FIG. 3. Thus, in effect, the engagement between the bottomprojections 46 and the strips 48 are seen to effect detent action. Ofcourse, when some force is applied to rotate the wheel, the detentaction is defeated thereby allowing rotation of the wheels.

In operation of the device, the wheels are arranged on rod 30 in amanner permitting the formation of sound blends which are viewablethrough the windows 18 in the housing 10. The general approach forteaching word construction to the learner is as follows:

It is easier to start with long vowel sounds first. Explain to thelearner that a long vowel sound can be distinguished by listening forthe sound of one of the letters A, E, I, O or U. That is, A can be heardin ATE", E in EAT," I" in ICE, in OAT," U in USE, etc. With youngchildren, it is often necessary to go over this several times so thatthey know what they are listening for.

It is advantageous to point out early that you cant have a syllablewithout a vowel (red wheel).

Assuming that you choose to start teaching long vowel sounds first, youmay begin by putting on the far right of the rod, a red wheel with E inview of the slot. Just to the left of E, place a light blue wheel with Bin view. To its left place another red wheel showing A". Explain thatthe final "E" makes no sound, but causes the other vowel to be long. Youhave A B E in view. Now advance the consonant wheel to D, F, G," L.explaining that the sound ofA" can be heard in all these syllables. (Youmay skip G in this series and cover it on the green wheel, since in thispattern it has the sound equivalent of J.

Stress the sound of the vowel remaining long. There are certainlyexceptions, but they usually occur in common words and can be learnedindividually easily enough, i.e. H A V E." To develop word attackability, the learner must know the general pattern.

Next, you should go on to the other vowel letters U," and perhaps, Y,volved. If here, then it has the I, of course. Before going to all ofthe consonants. By this E, uln depending on the learner insoundequivalent of the long a new vowel letter, go through time, the learnershould know what is meant by a long vowel sound. There are several othercombinations that make long vowels, but they can be taught more easilylater. Now you are ready to either go on to short vowel sounds, or tobegin making one-syllable words and nonsense syllables.

If you choose to start making words and nonsense syllables, simply puton another blue wheel to the left of those already on. A dark blue wheelis all right here. Now you have B A B E," C A B E," D A B E," F A B E"Then, B A D E," C A D E," D A D E," F A D E". When you have gone throughall the consonants on the light blue wheels (position next to final E"),advance to the next vowel E," and go completely through this cycle: B EB E, B E D E, B E F E," B E L E:" then, B l B E, B I D E," B IF E, etc.

By this time, you should be ready to begin on short vowels. Go back totwo wheels by simply turning the final E and initial consonant, to theblank position on the wheel. Now you are ready to start with A B," A D,"A F" Then, E B, E D," E F After all the vowels have been sounded throughin this manner, again go through the cycle with the consonant wheel onthe left: B A B," C A B, D A B," F A B". Then, B E B, C E B," D E B"After going through all the vowels in this fashion, you are ready to goon to blends, silent letters and other combinations for long vowels,other vowel sounds (OO, OW," U, AU, AW"), but by this time the learnersare reading on their own and liking it.

The last symbol on the vowel wheel is for unaccented vowels. This shouldbe used to show the sound is the same no matter what letter the word isactually spelled with in the unstressed syllable.

Example: A E l C ALENDAR.OTHE R,PENC L.

O 8 U 9 Q COL R.CIRC

The yellow wheel for silent letters should not be introduced until thelearner is able to readily determine the vowel sound (long or short) incombinations like: "E N T," N E E," N A T, O U R," N U," R A P." Then: SC E N T, K N E E, G N A T, H O U R," P N E U M A TIC," W R A P.

Consonant Letters with sound equivalent of other consonant letters anddigraphs GREEN W5 Also Vowels Silent Consonants Wheels 1,2,3

YELLOW W4 Also RED B L N C G S (Blank) "(Blank) (Blank) DARKBLUE W6 W7W8 LIGHT BLUE W9 WlO (Blank) (Blank) grouped so that related indicia andcolors are located in predetermined positions in said window of saidhousing in order to facilitate learning of word formation and lettersounds,

a support member rotatably mounting said wheels in said housing,

bracket means in said housing for removably mounting said supportmember, and

stop means connected to said housing for engaging said wheels andretaining the wheels in a desired rotatable position viewable throughsaid window,

each of said wheels including a single group of indicia thereon with theten wheels including three identical groups each consisting of all thevowels and the schwa, one group of silent consonants, one group ofdigraphs and consonant letters with sound equivalents of the otherconsonant letters, three groups each consisting of all the consonants,and two groups each consisting of the most used consonants, wherebymovement of said wheels in relation to each other provide a visualindication of various letters and phonetic sound relationship.

2. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said housing includes aplurality of parallel openings disposed in mutually spaced relation,each of said wheels having a plurality of peripherally aligned andcircumferentially spaced radially extending projections, saidprojections being disposed between adjacent alphabetical letters, saidprojections passing through said openings during a portion of therotatable movement thereof to enable manual rotation of each of saidwheels, said stop means including a pair of longitudinal resilientstrips disposed adjacent the periphery of said wheels and engaging saidprojections to releaseably retain the wheels in rotatably adjustedposition, said pair of strips being spaced apart to engage the innersurfaces of adjacent projections to align individual alphabeticalletters with the window, the support member comprising a rod slotted atopposite ends thereof, the bracket means including guide elementsprojecting in confronting relation from the housing interior to slidablyengage the slotted ends, the guide elements of each bracket meansincluding a raised W-shaped projection having outer arm portions and acentral arm portion, the outer arm portion serving to embrace anassociated rod end while the central arm portion is slidingly keyed inthe slot of the rod end.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein the support membercomprises a rod slotted at opposite ends thereof and wherein the bracketmeans include guide elements projecting in confronting relation from thehousing interior to slidably engage the slotted ends.

4. The structure set forth in claim 3 together with sprockets fonnedalong the wheel periphery for facilitating wheel manipulation, andfurther wherein the stop means include detent projections for engagingadjacently positioned sprockets.

5. The structure set forth in claim 4 wherein the guide elements of eachbracket means include a raised W-shaped projection having outer armportions and a central arm portion, the outer arm portion serving toembrace an associated rod end while the central arm portion is slidinglykeyed in the slot of the rod end.

6. The system of demonstrating the relationship between alphabeticletters and phonetic sounds consisting of the steps of separating thealphabetic letters into ten groups including three identical groups eachconsisting of all vowels and the schwa, one group of silent consonants,one group of digraphs and consonant letters with sound equivalents ofother consonant letters, three groups each consisting of one-third ofall consonants, and two groups each consisting of one-half of the mostused consonants, distinguishably color coding the groups of letters,placing each of said groups of letters on an independently movablemember, aligning alphabetic letters by varying the relative position ofthe members and the sequential position thereof, and revealing thealigned alphabetic letters through a restricted viewing area wherebymovement of members in relation to each other provide for demonstrationof various letter relationships and phonetic sound relationship.

s raits

1. A learning aid for the teaching of word formation and letter soundscomprising: a housing having at least one window therein, tenalphabetical letter indicia bearing colored wheels, certain ones of saidwheels having different colors, different vowel indicia, and differentconsonant indicia and being grouped so that related indicia and colorsare located in predetermined positions in said window of said housing inorder to facilitate learning of word formation and letter sounds, asupport member rotatably mounting said wheels in said housing, bracketmeans in said housing for removably mounting said support member, andstop means connected to said housing for engaging said wheels andretaining the wheels in a desired rotatable position viewable throughsaid window, each of said wheels including a single group of indiciathereon with the ten wheels including three identical groups eachconsisting of all the vowels and the schwa, one group of silentconsonants, one group of digraphs and consonant letters with soundequivalents of the other consonant letters, three groups each consistingof all the consonants, and two groups each consisting of the most usedconsonants, whereby movement of said wheels in relation to each otherprovide a visual indication of various letters and phonetic soundrelationship.
 2. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein saidhousing includes a plurality of parallel openings disposed in mutuallyspaced relation, each of said wheels having a plurality of peripherallyaligned and circumferentially spaced radially extending projections,said projections being disposed between adjacent alphabetical letters,said projections passing through said openings during a portion of therotatable movement thereof to enable manual rotation of each of saidwheels, said stop means including a pair of longitudinal resilientstrips disposed adjacent the periphery of said wheels and engaging saidprojections to releaseably retain the wheels in rotatably adjustedposition, said pair of strips being spaced apart to engage the innersurfaces of adjacent projections to align individual alphabeticalletters with the window, the support member comprising a rod slotted atopposite ends thereof, the bracket means including guide elementsprojecting in confronting relation from the housing interior to slidablyengage the slotted endS, the guide elements of each bracket meansincluding a raised W-shaped projection having outer arm portions and acentral arm portion, the outer arm portion serving to embrace anassociated rod end while the central arm portion is slidingly keyed inthe slot of the rod end.
 3. The structure set forth in claim 1 whereinthe support member comprises a rod slotted at opposite ends thereof andwherein the bracket means include guide elements projecting inconfronting relation from the housing interior to slidably engage theslotted ends.
 4. The structure set forth in claim 3 together withsprockets formed along the wheel periphery for facilitating wheelmanipulation, and further wherein the stop means include detentprojections for engaging adjacently positioned sprockets.
 5. Thestructure set forth in claim 4 wherein the guide elements of eachbracket means include a raised W-shaped projection having outer armportions and a central arm portion, the outer arm portion serving toembrace an associated rod end while the central arm portion is slidinglykeyed in the slot of the rod end.
 6. The system of demonstrating therelationship between alphabetic letters and phonetic sounds consistingof the steps of separating the alphabetic letters into ten groupsincluding three identical groups each consisting of all vowels and theschwa, one group of silent consonants, one group of digraphs andconsonant letters with sound equivalents of other consonant letters,three groups each consisting of one-third of all consonants, and twogroups each consisting of one-half of the most used consonants,distinguishably color coding the groups of letters, placing each of saidgroups of letters on an independently movable member, aligningalphabetic letters by varying the relative position of the members andthe sequential position thereof, and revealing the aligned alphabeticletters through a restricted viewing area whereby movement of members inrelation to each other provide for demonstration of various letterrelationships and phonetic sound relationship.